Twinkle Banerjee (She/Her) is an Indian-Canadian visual artist who works primarily with photography and alternative photo processes. Her work explores how colonization has shaped her identity, mental health, and family history, tracing its ongoing effects in present-day West Bengal and examining the interconnections between mental health, intergenerational trauma, and the body. She is mindful of the pressure many BIPOC artists experience to create work centered on trauma continually. In response, she strives to balance critical inquiry with self-care, often incorporating introspection, play, and moments of amusement into her practice. These lighter explorations serve as necessary counterpoints to the emotional intensity of her subject matter. As a neurodivergent artist with ADHD and complex PTSD, she finds strength in working across multiple projects simultaneously. This nonlinear process allows recurring themes to emerge organically, reflecting a common thread in her practice: the relationship between her internal landscape and its external expression. In her studio practice, she works with various photographic processes, primarily darkroom techniques, often experimenting with cameraless image-making and installation-based approaches. This material exploration allows her to translate abstract experiences of memory, fragmentation, and healing into physical form.
She has exhibited in the USA, Canada, the UK, the UAE, and Armenia, has been published in Berlin by the prestigious Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Foundation, and featured on CBC. In 2021, her work "Characters of Memorial Park" was part of an exhibition and publication at the ICP-New York, and in 2022, it was exhibited at the Sharjah Art Foundation. Her most recent exhibition was at the 14th Photoville Festival in New York.
Beyond presenting her work to the broader audience, Twinkle remains deeply engaged in the artistic community. She has served as the Vice President of the board for MST Performative Art Gallery in Calgary. She also lends her expertise as a juror for various art councils and artist-run centers. Her commitment to fostering creative dialogue extends to her role as a full-time member of Diversify Photo in New York.